2018 Wild Turkey Season

1963beretta

1963beretta

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Vaughan, Ontario
Well ladies and gentleman, the spring Wild Turkey season is almost upon us. Exciting times, especially for those with cabin fever. This year is an exciting one for me. My nephew will be entering his first turkey season and attempting to get his first bird and I’m hoping to help a friend get on to his first bird. This will also be the first spring season for many new turkey hunters who will now be sharing the turkey woods chasing the gobble

Along with the usual posting of photos of a successful hunt, it would also be a good idea for new turkey hunters to use this thread to post some questions and get some responses from seasoned hunters on proper hunting techniques and common “what to do’s” and “what not to do’s” while in the field.

Hope everyone has a safe season and Good luck to all. I look forward to seeing photos of your successes
 
I'm taking my neighbor out for his first turkey hunt on opener, and then taking another first time turkey hunting friend the following week. Mentoring is the best way to learn the sport... between those hunts, my son and I are going to try to drop a couple toms.
 
Aim for the waddle/base of the neck. Aiming solely for the head risks shooting right over the bird's head, especially with today's tight choke/ammo combinations.

A jake tastes just as good as a tom (maybe better).

Pattern your gun/ammo combo at at least two or three distances of 15/30/40/50 yards.
 
Some do’s and don’ts would be nice. I’ve gone out a few time in the last couple years without luck. I hunt on my friends 32 acre property but he’s a newbie hunter too. We have a portable blind, decoys and callers. They just seem to be always hanging out on other people’s properties near by in the fields. No fields on ours.
 
Get there early!!!

I learned the hard way on my first attempt, if you get there 30 mins before sun up you will hear them chatting in the trees. If you can see outlines in the trees then they can easily see you a mile away and on fly down they will avoid you like the plague.

Set up the day before if you are going to blind hunt so you can be totally silent when you arrive the next morning.

Turkeys are not like deer. So you can put your blind right in the middle of the field and they wont care. As long as they dont see movement in the blind (wear black and sit againat the back wall) they wont be scared of it.

I used 3 decoy setup and it worked for me. An upright hen out front, 6 yrds behind her is a lay down hen. 1 yrd behind her is a jake looking to move in. (The upright hen and jake are the primos gobstopper duo)

I use a pushpull call and it seemed to work to bring the two males in that had been cruising the fields behind me. Once they saw the decoys they came right in.

Newbie myself but as long as you know there are turkeys in the area you plan on hunting, the rest is easy to pick up lol
 
King0265 said:
Some do’s and don’ts would be nice. I’ve gone out a few time in the last couple years without luck. I hunt on my friends 32 acre property but he’s a newbie hunter too. We have a portable blind, decoys and callers. They just seem to be always hanging out on other people’s properties near by in the fields. No fields on ours.
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The property I hunt is bigger then yours but had a similar issue. Of the 200 acres or so, I do most of my hunting in the 30 acres of bush in the back. It was crawling with birds 15 years ago, but dried out completely. I went 8 years without harvesting a bird. But I stuck to it and put my work into the property. I ensure to keep birds well fed with corn during the winter months by using a feeder. And it has paid off. I have shot 4 birds in the last three years and the property is once again crawling with birds. Dont be discouraged about seeing birds in other fields. I have been successful hunting 20 yards inside the tree line from the fields. The birds you see in the fields are not the only birds around. They travel the bush all the time. Practice your calls and don't over do it in the blind. Get yourself a good set of decoys and sit patiently. You should also scout the land during the off season to determine where the birds walkways are and set yourself up in those walkways. Its also a good idea to head out the night before to determine where the birds are roosting. That will help you determine where to set up in the AM. GOOD LUCK
 
A few tips:

* if you are hunting roosted birds, get there EARLY. If I have roosted birds the evening before and have a specific setup in mind, I will be sitting down at my chosen spot an hour before legal light. I like to be inside 100 meters (often I'm inside 75) to the roosted birds and the only way to accomplish this is to move into position totally silently well before daybreak.

* don't overall to a gobbling tom on the roost. Let crows, owls, etc. fire him up in the morning. As daylight approaches make a few soft "tree yelps" (YouTube if you aren't sure) to simulate a hen waking up on the limb. If the tom gobbles at your call, put it down. The tom knows you are there. Overcalling will only serve to have the bird sit on the limb and wait for the hen to arrive or spook the bird. It's very hard not to keep calling because everyone loves to hear the toms light up the morning with thunderous gobbling. Let the crows keep him hammering.

* if hens are roosted with the tom, simulate being the first hen out of the tree. I like to use a Primos wing to do this. I'll fire off a "fly down cackle" (YouTube is your friend again) and beat the wing against the ground to simulate a hen flying down. If you're lucky this will pull the toms out of the tree before the real hens fly down and take the toms with them.

* once your tom is "locked in" and coming, put the call away. Last year I called in a longbeard for my brother in law on opening morning in the first few minutes of legal shooting time. Several toms flew down about 100 meters away. I pulled them in with some clucks/purrs on my slate (had already called to them a few times on the roost) and they walked right past his shotgun barrel - I didn't make a sound on the call after I saw them starting our way a few minutes earlier

* hit the timber for mid day hunts. I find birds moving all day in the woods when the fields are devoid of turkeys. If you can find an area with plenty of scratchings or even a dusting bowl, you're in a spot turkeys like to be. It's a patience game, but they will show up.
 
Got the next 2 days off to go after the turkeys. Shottys patterned and packing bags tonight for an early morning. Will be good regardless.

Looking forward to the turkey pics tomorrow too!

Good luck out there.
 
Yes, its calling for rain all day in my neck of the woods. I was at the farm on sunday and my turkey woods was still under 4” of ice. I broke through the ice in front of my blind and found myself standing in water about half way up my boots. I hope turkeys know how to swim. The field surrounding their usual roosting area is flooded so bad that it doesnt even appear to be a field....looks like a small body of water
 
1963beretta said:
Yes, its calling for rain all day in my neck of the woods. I was at the farm on sunday and my turkey woods was still under 4” of ice. I broke through the ice in front of my blind and found myself standing in water about half way up my boots. I hope turkeys know how to swim. The field surrounding their usual roosting area is flooded so bad that it doesnt even appear to be a field....looks like a small body of water
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This is my first season hunting turkeys... I have them literally 50m behind my bedroom window but I haven't had a chance to meet the land owner yet so it's a public land kind of hunt for me this year. Pretty excited & bummed at the same time about learning it by doing...

How will the rain affect their behaviour (in general terms)?
 
I've been so fixated on trying to get my spring bear hunting together I kind of forgot it was turkey season.

A lot of people say get out to the bush early before sunup. To be honest I've only shot turkeys around 10 or 11 in the morning. I often find roosted Tom's already have hens they're going to go take care of first thing at first light. So don't get discouraged if the Tom comes down from his Roost and doesn't come straight to you. Give him some time let him finish up with his first hen and he will come back to you when he's ready.
 
4n2t0 said:
They tend to stay on the limb longer, gobbling is suppressed and they favour open fields which makes it easier for them to spot danger from further away since hearing is hampered by the rain.
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Not always... I have a "rainy day" bush where I play "cat n' mluse" with the birds and have taken several really good toms there... a couple were in a nasty downpour.
 
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